Golden Dragon
Golden Dragon — The Encounter
Gilded serpent of the sun, hoard-warden and oath-keeper · a boss your table can run with almost no prep. SRD 5.1-compatible.
Who Is Golden Dragon
The grimoires of the old kingdoms name it the Gilded Warden, eldest of the metallic serpents and keeper of oaths sworn over gold. Where lesser wyrms hoard for greed, the Golden Dragon hoards for memory: every coin in its bed is a promise it has witnessed kept or broken, and it judges accordingly. Sages tell that it once coiled around a sinking city and held the waters back for three days, asking only that the people remember mercy. It speaks in measured Draconic, offers riddles before it offers fire, and will spare any foe who lays down arms and tells the truth. But oath-breakers and tyrants find no clemency in its eyes. When roused, it pours caged daylight from its throat, and its scales flare so brightly that swords falter and warriors are struck blind. To bargain with it is to be measured; to lie to it is to burn.
Run Golden Dragon in Sixty Seconds
- Hold its position in the sky. The Golden Dragon is a flier with an 80-ft. fly speed and Searing Wing escape; never let the party pin it in melee. Open from above with Radiant Breath, then dive for one Multiattack and lift off again.
- Open with the cone. Lead each fight with Radiant Breath (DC 17, 7d8 fire, blinds anyone it drops) the instant two or more PCs are within a 30-ft. cone, then recharge-gamble for more.
- Kill-priority: the caster. Use Tail Attack and dives to reach the back line; bank both Legendary Resistances for save-or-lose spells like hold monster or banishment.
- When bloodied, go evasive. Stay airborne, breathe on cooldown, and use Searing Wing to knock melee prone and reposition rather than standing and trading attacks.
- Three ways to run it. As a redeemable oath-judge that spares the truthful, as a soloable Tier-3 boss over its hoard, or as a wargame centerpiece with a flight of drakes and kobold servitors.
Golden Dragon
Large dragon, lawful good
CR 10 · 5,900 XP · GUIDELINELegendary Resistance (2/Day). If the Golden Dragon fails a saving throw, it can choose to succeed instead.
Sunhoard Radiance. The dragon's gilded scales burn with caged daylight. The first time on each of its turns that a creature within 10 feet hits the dragon with a melee attack, that creature must succeed on a DC 16 Constitution saving throw or be blinded until the start of the dragon's next turn as molten light flares off its hide.
Actions
Multiattack. The dragon makes three attacks: one with its Bite and two with its Claws.
Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +9 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 17 (2d10 + 6) piercing damage.
Claw. Melee Weapon Attack: +9 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 13 (2d6 + 6) slashing damage.
Radiant Breath (Recharge 5-6). The dragon exhales a torrent of golden fire in a 30-foot cone. Each creature in that area must make a DC 17 Dexterity saving throw, taking 31 (7d8) fire damage on a failed save, or half as much on a success. A creature reduced to 0 hit points this way is also blinded for 1 minute.
Legendary Actions (3/Round)
Detect. The dragon makes a Wisdom (Perception) check.
Tail Attack. Melee Weapon Attack: +9 to hit, reach 15 ft., one target. Hit: 15 (2d8 + 6) bludgeoning damage, and the target must succeed on a DC 17 Strength saving throw or be pushed 10 feet.
Searing Wing (Costs 2 Actions). The dragon beats its molten wings. Each creature within 10 feet must succeed on a DC 16 Dexterity saving throw or take 6 (1d6 + 3) fire damage and be knocked prone. The dragon can then fly up to half its flying speed without provoking opportunity attacks.
Coiled serpent-long atop a ruin of shattered pillars, the Golden Dragon lifts vast plumed wings into a sky it has owned for centuries. Its crowned head and gilded scales glow as if the sun itself were hoarded beneath its hide.
Golden Dragon, Bound
Companion · acts on your initiative
Bound · GUIDELINESunward Loyalty (signature). While within 30 feet of an ally, Golden Dragon has advantage on saving throws against being frightened or charmed, and it can use its reaction to impose disadvantage on an attack roll made against that ally.
Actions
Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 12 (2d6 + 5) piercing damage plus 4 (1d8) fire damage.
Reactions
Mirrored Glare. When a creature the drake can see hits an ally within 30 feet, Golden Dragon flashes its scales; the attacker must succeed on a DC 14 Constitution saving throw or be blinded until the end of its next turn.
A younger serpent of the same gilded line, Golden Dragon trails its elder like dawn trails the sun, throwing light into the eyes of any who would strike its kin.
Guideline numbers — formula-tuned and read from the miniature's design, not yet table-proven. Tell us how it ran in the comments.
How It Fights — by Tier
Same creature, scaled threat. The traits never change; only the numbers move.
Open with Radiant Breath the moment two or more PCs cluster, then bite the closest. Keep it airborne and dive in for one Multiattack at a time so a low-level party isn't deleted. Pair it with a small flight of kobolds or a cultist handler so the dragon never has to tank the whole party alone.
Lead with the breath cone on the densest knot of PCs, then alternate Multiattack and Searing Wing to scatter melee and reposition. Punish whoever closes via Sunhoard Radiance and target the party's healer first. Strong as a mid-act gatekeeper boss flanked by 2-4 minions guarding its hoard.
True solo boss: open from the air with Radiant Breath, land for Multiattack, then spend legendary actions on Tail Attack to peel ranged threats and Searing Wing to escape melee and re-cone. Kill-priority is the party caster; bank Legendary Resistance for save-or-suck spells. When bloodied it stays airborne and breathes on cooldown rather than trading bites.
Put Golden Dragon on the table
Download the presupported STL and run the fight tonight — the model, and the encounter that comes with it.
Get the STL on MyMiniFactory →Clay Cyanide Companion Rules v1
How a bound creature acts
- A companion acts on its owner's initiative, immediately after the owner.
- It uses the Companion block above — roughly ×0.6 HP and damage, no recharge abilities, and at most one reaction trait.
- It moves freely; it takes its Action only while its owner is conscious.
- At 0 HP a companion is broken, not dead — restored on a long rest unless your table rules otherwise.
Original Clay Cyanide material © Clay Cyanide LLC — explicitly not the non-SRD official sidekick rules.
Questions, Asked at the Table
What CR is Golden Dragon?
Its home statline is CR 10 (5,900 XP), tuned for an 11th-15th level party as a solo boss. Scaled-down Tier 1 (~CR 2) and Tier 2 (~CR 6) blocks are provided for lower-level tables, using the same traits and actions with adjusted numbers.
Can Golden Dragon be a companion or ally?
The adult dragon is a centerpiece adversary, but the kit includes Aurelan, a younger Gilded Drake (AC 16, 110 HP) statted as a controllable ally who blinds attackers and shields a chosen companion. Run the elder dragon itself as a temporary patron or quest-giver if your table earns its favor through honesty.
Is the Golden Dragon good or evil?
Lawful good. It is an oath-keeper and judge that offers riddles and mercy before fire, sparing any foe who disarms and tells the truth, but it shows no clemency to tyrants and oath-breakers. That moral weight makes it as useful as a stern ally as it is as a final boss.
Tell Us How It Ran
This work includes material taken from the System Reference Document 5.1 ("SRD 5.1") by Wizards of the Coast LLC and available at dnd.wizards.com/resources/systems-reference-document. The SRD 5.1 is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License available at creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode.
Clay Cyanide Miniatures is not affiliated with, endorsed, sponsored, or specifically approved by Wizards of the Coast LLC. This content is compatible with the fifth edition of the world's most popular fantasy roleplaying game. Companion rules, lore, names, and original mechanics © Clay Cyanide LLC.
Technical Specifications
32mm, 75mm
STL, Pre-supported STL
Standard or ABS-like resin, 0.05mm layer height
Yes — ready to print, optimized supports included
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